Photo Of The Day by Willie Huang (4/4/2013)

Willie Huang took today's Photo Of The Day at a lesser-known spot in Yosemite Valley. This arch, called Indian Rock Arch, is the only natural-forming arch in the park. The photo was submitted to the National Parks Assignment. Huang writes about the day he took this photo, "The entire day, the sky was mostly cloudy, filled with lenticular clouds. The night sky seemed hopeless, but a moment of separation was all I needed. The clouds parted and I captured the Milky Way peering through for just a minute before the clouds closed back up." He used a Canon EOS 5D Mk II and a Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II lens. You can see more of Willie Huang's photos at his OP Gallery Page.

If you're working on a shot like this, do your best to keep the shutter speed to 30-sec or less. The stars will show streaking if the exposure is any longer. Boost ISO as high as you can without introducing excess noise and adjust the aperture to the widest possible setting that will still maintain depth of field. If you just can't get the shutter speed shorter than 30-sec, consider going the other way and shooting a star-trail photo.

I select a Photo Of The Day every day. I choose the images from the various OP galleries including Assignments, Your Favorite Places and all of the OP Contests. Also, for each issue of the magazine I go through the Assignments galleries and choose a few to be featured in The Best Of Assignments in print. To get your photos into the running all you have to do is submit them.